


Holograms & Hobgoblins

by Anonymous



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, Holodecks/Holosuites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-26
Updated: 2021-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-27 21:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30128907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: There's something wrong in Holodeck Two.  Again.
Relationships: Seven of Nine/B'Elanna Torres
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Worldbuilding Exchange 2021





	Holograms & Hobgoblins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parcequelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/gifts).



B'Elanna rotated the theoretical new warp field geometry this way and that on the display as the computer ran through the simulation, as though that would help her find the problem. The new design was intended to increase their maximum speed fractionally, and more importantly require less fuel over the long term, but each simulation she had run so far had seen the warp field collapse within minutes due to chaotic interactions with the deeper layers of subspace.

This latest tweak seemed to be holding out better than most, but she was glad when Vorik interrupted her -- it seemed inevitable that it would fail once again.

"Lieutenant," he said, his voice rising a semitone in that way he had which indicated that, while "worry" was of course an illogical emotion, the current circumstances certainly merited an appropriate and entirely rational level of concern. "I am picking up unusual readings from the bioneural gel packs in the power grid on Deck Ten." A slight pause as he checked. "Section Three."

"If Neelix has been playing around with cheese again ..."

"We have improved biosecurity considerably since that incident," Vorik said. "I believe I may have an alternative hypothesis: the location of these gel packs is close to Holodeck Two; they appear to have been tasked with running additional calculations to support an ongoing holoprogram."

"But the holodeck systems are supposed to be completely independent."

"Indeed."

B'Elanna sighed. "Must be Wednesday," she said, rising to her feet.

"I do not believe that is a logical inference," Vorik said. "Although it is not incorrect." He looked at her levelly. "I can investigate the situation if you wish to remain here and work on the warp field problem."

B'Elanna glanced back at the screen: the simulated _Voyager_ , barely visible in the centre of its vast warp bubble when the simulation was running, was now listing badly, marooned in real space. "No, Vorik, tell you what, why don't you take a look at the warp field? I'll go figure this out."

"As you wish, Lieutenant."

* * *

By the time the turbolift had delivered B'Elanna to the vicinity of Holodeck Two, the problem had spread to five more gel packs. A brief inspection of the gel packs themselves indicated that they were operating perfectly normally, just running at an extremely high rate of reaction-computation. That didn't seem too concerning until Vorik helpfully informed over the comm that the problem was becoming exponential -- it was still at a low level for now, but in a few hours things would be critical as every bioneural gel pack on the ship began operating at maximum capacity.

Whatever was going on, it was going on in Holodeck Two.

"Computer, identify running program," she said at the doorway.

"Holodeck program Seven-Alpha-Sierra-3," the computer said.

 _Seven?_ B'Elanna wondered. Had she turned the holodeck into some miniature Borg collective that was now assimilating the ship from the inside out? "Override the door control and let me in."

"Override unnecessary," the computer said, before adding, much to B'Elanna's alarm, "All are welcome!"

The doors swished open and B'Elanna walked through. In the centre of the holodeck was Seven of Nine, and B'Elanna had to force herself to stay focused on her to avoid being overwhelmed by the almost phantasmagorical kaleidoscope of different things happening around the corners of the holodeck. There were vicious hand-to-hand battles juxtaposed with scenes of a much more amorous nature. A dark and frightening cave gave way to a large swimming pool, opposite which was a beautiful sunset, although the star dipping below the horizon seemed to cause no change in the colour of the overall illumination.

A holodeck character walked between B'Elanna and Seven for a moment, the parts of its body seeming to randomly rearrange themselves between one step and the next -- one moment it looked like a relatively normal humanoid, the next its face smiled out of its torso, the next it was crawling crablike on all four of its limbs.

"Lieutenant!" Seven said, and the too-happy way she said it was even more disturbing than the computer's cheerful invitation a moment ago. "I did not expect you to be the first visitor, but you are very welcome."

"Seven, what _is_ going on here?"

"The Doctor suggested I create a holodeck program for other members of the crew to enjoy. As part of my social education."

"And you thought the crew would enjoy _this_?"

"It is certainly holding your attention." Seven practically had to shout over a Bolian band that had just begun to play. "I have been monitoring the movements of your eyeballs and you have engaged with many different elements over the half-minute in which you have been inside."

A sinking feeling developed in B'Elanna's stomach. "Computer, freeze program."

Everything stopped. It was still a riotous assemblage of disparate elements, but at least none of them were moving now. "Seven," B'Elanna said, doing her best to keep her voice level and controlled. "Did you create this program yourself?"

"Indeed," Seven said. "In the same sense that any organic lifeform creates a holodeck program -- I provided broad parameters for the computer to work within and defined--"

"Seven," B'Elanna said urgently. "What were the parameters?"

"I instructed the computer to analyse all holoprograms which have been used since the ship arrived in the Delta Quadrant, ranking them by time spent and number of active crew members playing them. From this, the computer was able to produce an optimisation matrix for the elements which drive engagement most."

B'Elanna put a hand to her forehead. "Seven, you can't do that sort of thing!"

Seven cocked her head in that infuriating way she had. "Explain."

"When I was at school, we ended up with a new history teacher every year. And for whatever reason, each time we got a new one, they wanted to start back over at the beginning.  
I studied the causes of World War III four times in a row, and _every time_ we were told that engagement-driven algorithmic content generation like that was one of the primary long-term causes! You can't use mere interaction as a metric--"

"I will investigate this further," Seven said. "However--"

"If you want a more immediate reason to cease and desist, the calculations the computer's having to do to keep it up are spilling out beyond the holodeck systems. By the end of the shift, the whole ship will be spinning computational cycles to keep up your little horror show here."

"A legitimate concern," Seven said. "Computer, end program."

The holodeck grid -- to B'Elanna's enormous relief -- reasserted itself smoothly. "Seven, if you're going to do this sort of thing, and it seems to me that you are--"

"The Doctor was most insistent," she said.

"--then there needs to be _curation_. You can't throw every holodeck program that's ever been used on the ship into the mix haphazardly and expect the computer to spit out a satisfying experience. Take inspiration from what's already been done, sure, but come up with your own take on it as well."

"I will reflect on what you have said."

* * *

It was two weeks' later that B'Elanna received the invitation. It seemed odd that Seven was formally inviting her to come to the holodeck, but then it was odd that Seven wanted to spend time with her at all -- B'Elanna had thought that the two of them had long since settled into a pattern of avoiding one another as much as possible outside professional contexts. They respected one another's abilities, even when they disagreed on methodologies, but the relationship between them had never been warm.

Not that there wasn't a part of B'Elanna that wished that things might not be different. Seven was undoubtedly attractive, and ... intriguing, was the best word B'Elanna could come up with. The idea of breaking through that Borg _sang froid_ was one that played an increasingly large role in her fantasy life, in such moments as she had spare to have a fantasy life. B'Elanna no longer quite knew whether she was avoiding conflict with Seven of Nine, or avoiding what might come next if the conflict was resolved. She did, however, know herself well enough to know when she was being a coward, but in this particular regard she had not yet allowed her Klingon side to prevail.

And so the odd circumstances of the invitation had sent her into a state of considerable confusion. She decided, in the end, that she shouldn't read too much into it. In some ways, she told herself, it read less as an invitation and more as a summons.

Still, B'Elanna found herself standing outside Holodeck Two once more, intrigued as to what Seven might have come up with.

"Enter, if you dare," the computer said as the doors opened.

On the other side was a smoky room in some sort of drinking establishment. A motley selection of humans and different aliens -- no, B'Elanna corrected herself, _creatures_ \-- sat at the tables, doing some combination of eating, drinking, playing dice and card games, or swapping unlikely stories.

"Seven?" B'Elanna said.

"Well met, traveller," a voice behind her said. Turning round, B'Elanna saw that one of the more well-armoured patrons turned out to be Seven.

"What is this place?"

"This is The Tavern," Seven said. When B'Elanna didn't ask again, she carried on, "I have taken on board your advice and created a holodeck program intended to appeal to as broad a possible range of members of the crew."

"I'm listening," B'Elanna said warily.

"My analysis shows that there are two main strands of popular holoprogram on board the ship. The first encompasses those programs which permit socialisation in a simulated environment of an appropriate type, often with the provision of alcohol, or more specifically holographically simulated synthehol. In this category would be included programs such as Fair Haven, Sandrine's, and Mr Neelix's 'Polynesian Luau'."

"Go on."

"The other popular type of program allows for what I believe is known as 'escapism' via participating in adventures with unlikely outcomes and playing a role unlike that engaged in by that individual in real life. Examples here would be the 'Captain Proton' holoprogram, Mr Kim's 'Beowulf' simulation, and several enjoyed by the Captain herself, including a 'gothic romance' set on 19th Century Earth in which the player is a governess to a family with a dark secret, and a 'murder mystery' set on 20th Century Earth in which the spouse of a security officer themselves solves crimes. There are also--"

"I get the idea," B'Elanna said.

"My inspiration, if you like, was to combine the two types of holoprogram, so that everyone can access the type of entertainment they desire at the same time. It is entirely possible to remain here in the Tavern socialising indefinitely, but speaking to the computer-controlled characters provides the opportunity to be sent on an adventure. These are mostly undertaken in a similar setting to the discontinued 'Beowulf' program, but in fact the setting for the Tavern is broad enough to encompass a multiverse of different--"

B'Elanna began to laugh uncontrollably.

Seven looked affronted. "Explain your laughter. What is so amusing?"

"Seven, have you ever heard of the old Earth game, Dungeons and Dragons?"

"I do not believe I recognise the reference. If this information was assimilated from a human, it must have been deemed of extremely low relevance by the Collective."

"The reason I'm asking is that it seems to me like you've just re-invented it."

Seven looked both curious and disappointed at once. "Shall I delete the program?"

B'Elanna snorted. "No, you know what, let's go talk to someone and have an adventure."

* * *

B'Elanna swung her axe in a wide arc around her head, and the remaining hobgoblins ran for the exits, scattering deeper into the labyrinthine passages of the tomb complex. "Yeah, that's right, you'd better run!"

In the centre of the room, Seven was hard at work deciphering the locking mechanism of the treasure chest. She had broken character to explain that the program's adaptive difficulty setting meant that this should be a challenge even to her. B'Elanna was more than a little worried by that idea, remembering stories that had circulated during her time at the Academy about someone on the _Enterprise_ having managed to create a character that had been able to take over the ship by a poorly defined parameter space for a holodeck villain, but that wasn't the full-scale algorithmic content disaster area she had seen Seven produce a fortnight ago.

She was just beginning to become impatient and wish some of the creatures would come back -- if the puzzles could adapt in difficulty, surely the enemies could too -- when there was a sudden surge of actinic light followed by the room being plunged into darkness.

The last thing she had seen illuminated by the flash was Seven, being thrown backwards. B'Elanna went to where she had most likely landed.

She had found Seven's exact location by kneeling and feeling in front of her. This brought her hand into contact with Seven's breast for an uncomfortably long second, but Seven did not flinch away.

"The chest was booby trapped," B'Elanna said in the end, forcing herself to keep her breathing steady.

"Evidently," Seven replied.

"What do we do now?"

Seven muttered something under her breath and a sphere suffused with a faint blue glow appeared above their hands, casting a deathly pallor over the whole room. In the light, B'Elanna saw that Seven had some sort of lesions covering her hands. "A magical injury," she said. "Part of the simulation. The holodeck safeties remain active."

"I know," B'Elanna said. "But if your hands are out of action you won't be able to do any of your more fancy magical moves."

"Indeed," Seven said. "My character does know a type of healing spell."

"'Type of'?"

"My character is capable of drawing off a small proportion of your character's life force in order to heal. However, close physical contact is required."

B'Elanna felt like she was already much closer to Seven than she usually was. But she felt as though she knew what was coming, and the thought sent a thrill of mixed anticipation, excitement and fear up her spine. "What sort of contact?" she asked, keeping her tone light.

"You should kiss me," Seven said. "Approximately twenty seconds will be sufficient."

 _Here goes nothing,_ B'Elanna thought. She bent down and pressed her lips to Seven's. She wasn't sure what she'd expected -- Seven's lips not to yield, merely to be there to be acted upon, perhaps -- but quickly Seven was kissing her in return, her hands wrapped around B'Elanna's neck to pull her in.

Eventually, according to even the most slowest counting B'Elanna could reasonably do in her head, the twenty seconds were up. Reluctantly, she broke away.

"You should continue to kiss me," Seven said immediately.

"But Seven, we did it; if we want to win the game, now we need to retrieve the treasure--"

"The treasure is irrelevant," Seven said. "The game is irrelevant. Kiss me."

B'Elanna did so, longer and harder this time.

Eventually, when they broke apart, B'Elanna said, "Did you set all this up just to try to seduce me?"

"Negative," Seven said. "However, the opportunity presented itself and I availed myself of it. It has become clear to me that despite your obvious attraction to me, you were unwilling to initiate contact," Seven said. B'Elanna bristled slightly at the idea that the feelings which she thought she had been keeping under control, had in fact been entirely obvious to Seven.

"From what I've heard, you favour the direct approach," B'Elanna said.

"That has met with insufficient success in the past to be worth trying in this case," Seven said. "In addition, I found myself unwilling to risk an outright refusal."

B'Elanna raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm not refusing."

"Indeed not."

She leaned down to kiss Seven again.


End file.
